Issue Archive

People have been making rubber products, from elastic bands to tires, for centuries, but a key step in this process has remained a mystery. Scientists from the Kyoto Institute of Technology in Japan have described this elusive part of rubber production that could have major implications for improving the material and its uses. Their findings, if used to improve tire performance, for example, could mean higher gas mileage for consumers and less air pollution.
A chemical process called vulcanization has been critical for the manufacturing of quality rubber since the second half of the 1800s. Chemists have improved the process, but progress has largely plateaued in recent years. If scientists could gain insight into the details of vulcanization, they could further tweak it to make even better rubber.
Using the latest analytical techniques, the researchers discovered a previously unknown structure that forms during vulcanization. The new observation could contribute to making the ubiquitous material even better.
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Nanyang Technological University’s (NTU) start-up Blacksmith Group launched a compact 3D printer that can also scan items into digitized models. Named the Blacksmith Genesis, this user-friendly device allows users without much knowledge of 3D software to scan any item, then edit the digitized model on the computer, and print it out in 3D.
Housed in a black aluminum casing, the device features a 2-inch LCD display, Wi-Fi, an integrated SD-card reader, and a USB connection for instant printing. Blacksmith Genesis uses an innovative rotary platform for its printing and scanning, unlike other commercial 3D printers. The revolving platform allows for true 360-degrees scanning.
Blacksmith Genesis is also the first to feature remote live monitoring and automatic error detection, thanks to its in-built camera. This allows users to monitor and control the printing process on their smartphone from anywhere in the world through the Internet.
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The 3D effect produced by stereoscopic glasses used to watch movies cannot provide perfect depth cues. Furthermore, it is not possible to move one’s head and observe that objects appear different from different angles — a real-life effect known as motion parallax. Researchers have developed a new way of generating high-resolution, full-color, 3D videos that uses holographic technology.
Holograms are considered to be truly 3D, because they allow the viewer to see different perspectives of a reconstructed 3D object from different angles and locations. Holograms are created using lasers, which can produce the complex light interference patterns, including spatial data, required to re-create a complete 3D object.
To enhance the resolution of holographic videos, researchers used an array of spatial light modulators (SLMs). SLMs are used to display hologram pixels and create 3D objects by light diffraction. Each SLM can display up to 1.89 billion hologram pixels every second.
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A sweeping view of the "Pahrump Hills" outcrop on Mars, where NASA's Curiosity rover has been working for five months, surrounds the rover in Curiosity's latest self-portrait. The selfie is assembled from dozens of images taken by the Mars Hand Lens Imager (MAHLI) camera on the rover's robotic arm.
The component images for this self-portrait were taken in late January, while Curiosity was at a drilling site called Mojave 2. Curiosity took previous self-portraits with the MAHLI camera at three sites it explored before reaching the base of Mount Sharp.
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A new software system developed at the University of Michigan uses video game technology to help solve one of the most daunting hurdles facing self-driving and automated cars: the high cost of the laser scanners they use to determine their location. The technology enables the cars to navigate using a single video camera, delivering the same level of accuracy as laser scanners at a fraction of the cost.
The system builds on the navigation systems used in other self-driving cars, using 3D laser scanning technology to create a real-time map of the environment, then comparing that real-time map to a pre-drawn map stored in the system. By making thousands of comparisons per second, they're able to determine the vehicle's location within a few centimeters. The software converts the map data into a 3D picture much like a video game. The car's navigation system can then compare these synthetic pictures with the real-world pictures streaming in from a conventional video camera.
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During 10 years of discovery, NASA's Cassini spacecraft has pulled back the smoggy veil that obscures the surface of Titan, Saturn's largest moon. Thanks to a recently developed technique for handling noise in Cassini's radar images, these views now have a whole new look. The technique, referred to by its developers as "despeckling," produces images of Titan's surface that are much clearer and easier to look at.
Typically, Cassini's radar images have a characteristic grainy appearance. This "speckle noise" can make it difficult for scientists to interpret small-scale features or identify changes in images of the same area taken at different times. Despeckling uses an algorithm to modify the noise, resulting in clearer views that can be easier for researchers to interpret.
Despeckling Cassini's radar images has a variety of scientific benefits, including the ability to produce 3D maps, called digital elevation maps, of Titan's surface with greatly improved quality. With clearer views of river channels, lake shorelines, and windswept dunes, researchers are also able to perform more precise analyses of processes shaping Titan's surface.
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Researchers from the University of California at Berkeley have created a thin, chameleon-like material that can be made to change color — on demand — by applying a minute amount of force.The new material offers possibilities for display technologies, color-shifting camouflage, and sensors that can detect otherwise imperceptible defects in buildings, bridges, and aircraft.By etching tiny features — smaller than a wavelength of light — onto a silicon film one thousand times thinner than a human hair, the researchers were able to select the range of colors the material would reflect, depending on how it was flexed and bent.The researchers formed grating bars using a semiconductor layer of silicon approximately 120-nm thick. Silicon bars were then embedded into a flexible layer of silicone. As the silicone was bent or flexed, the period of the grating spacings responded in kind.
The semiconductor technology produces materials that reflect up to 83% of the incoming light.
The initial design created colors across a 39-nm range of wavelengths. Future designs, the researchers believe, could cover a wider range of colors and reflect light with even greater efficiency.SourceRead other Materials & Coatings tech briefs.

Question of the Week

This week's Question: A recent study created by the Arizona-based Paragon Space Development Corporation says its life support system could help humans survive on Mars. The proposed Environmental Control and Life Support System, the company says,...